Thursday, September 3, 2015

Marriage License Issue

With the recent issue of marriage license in Kentucky our junior Senator stated that perhaps the state should get out to the marriage license business altogether. I think I agree with that.

Until the mid 1800's the states did not issue marriage licenses at all. It was totally the realm of religions to perform marriages. In the mid 1800's some states began to raise revenue by requiring a license to get marred. That had the advantage of registering the marriage as a legal event. Perhaps divorce lawyers serving as state lawmakers saw an advantage in that. It was not until 1923 that all states required couples to register and get a license to marry.

So here we are today with the state involved in the marriage business and caught up in ways they never dreamed of dealing with when they chose to create a new revenue stream. Any time the government is involved it needs to treat all citizens equally. Drivers license, marriage license, gun license, hunting and fishing license and all the rest are to be open to all citizens on a equal basis.

So our question of the day is does the state really need to be issuing marriage license?

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Police and Fire Fighters

Police and other emergency service personal put their lives on the line every time they go to work. Over the more than 40 years of my ministry I have volunteered my services as a chaplain to these services. I am currently a Fire Chaplain but I have also served as a Police Chaplain and Emergency Room Chaplain.

Most of Police and Firefighters are honest hard working people who love what they do and they do it well. They keep us safe and serve the public with out regard to status when the need arises. There are a few who come to work with issues that can create problems when they loose control of their moral compass. This usually happens under a great deal of stress and that is when chaplains can help them. Once they loose control the results can cause a lot of trouble for them, their department and the community. As a country we are dealing with that loss of control. It is not an easy thing to deal with in advance but most departments are working on it all the time.

Pray for them all.